contest in puerto rico on sunday and illinois next tuesday. we'll, of course, have complete coverage. thanks very much for joining us. i'm wolf blitzer sitting in for piers morgan. piers morgan. the news continues on cnn. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com a special edition of "out front" tonight. a huge victory for rick santorum. calling mississippi for the pennsylvania senator. that's after we called alabama for santorum earlier tonight. the candidate spoke just moments ago. ain't no doubt about it. he is taking his momentum into the next contests. >> we will compete everywhere. we will compete everywhere. the time is now for conservatives to pull together. the time is now to make sure -- to make sure that we have the

best chance to win this election and the best chance to win this election is to nominate a conservative to go up against barack obama who can take him on on every issue. >> all right. let's take a closer look at the numbers in both states. you can see how tight this race was. it took awhile at cnn to make these calls. it was running as a three-man race for most of the evening. alabama, rick santorum 35% lead there. and more votes are coming in. but 98% reporting. mississippi calling later for rick santorum with 33% of the vote. there is no mistaking it. it is rick santorum's night. the candidate who began as a virtual unknown for many americans now can say his appeal stretches from middle america all the way down to the deep south. a big part of what we heard from his communications director tonight. jim acosta is live at rick

santorum's headquarters right now in lafayette. jim acosta, what was the -- i guess, the celebration there. there was a bit of surprise. they seemed to have down played expectations coming into this. >> you're right about that, erin. when rick santorum said we did it again. cheers went up in this room. then later on in his speech he talked about how he did not see one poll in mississippi that showed him winning this contest tonight. and so i think this results in the deep south even surprised the santorum campaign. hi a chance to catch up with the former pennsylvania senator after his speech here for just a few moments. if anybody noticed rick santorum sounding hoarse tonight, that's because he's recovering from a cold. the next question for this campaign is what happens to newt gingrich. if gingrich had not been in the race tonight, santorum might have had wider margins over romney. i asked rick santorum do you think speaker gingrich should get out of the race? here's what he had to say.

>> do you think newt gingrich should drop out, senator? do you think speaker gingrich should drop out of the race? >> it'd be great if everybody dropped out. >> clearly you would have won by a wider margin. >> got to play with the cards you're dealt. >> so you hear him say you have to play with the cards you're dealt. clearly this is a delicate situation for the campaign. earlier he was on the glenn beck show. he said he would think it would be great for speaker gingrich to get out of this race. later this evening i asked one of his spokes people, his press secretary. do you think newt gingrich should get out of this race? does the santorum campaign say this? she said absolutely then came back later to me this evening

saying we're not formally calling on newt gingrich to get out of this race. no question about it heading into the contests here, it would be a big help to this campaign. just to tell you how they are not taking anything for granted from this point forward, they are getting on a plane tonight at 1:00 in the morning to head to puerto rico in advance of this primary down in the u.s. territory. they got creamed in the u.s. territories last weekend. helped offset those delegate gains he had when romney took the other territories over the weekend. they're not taking those territories for granted anymore. >> thank you very much. the great irony. the popular vote doesn't get to count. something deeply seems to be unfair. but that is for another time. let's talk about the big scenario here. if newt gingrich gets out, let's just say pigs fly. all right? what happens then? what happens to the delegates? >> i think it's interesting. they're back tracking saying they're not calling on him to get out. maybe if his friends say do the

math. all right let's do this here. here's the national map. this is a blow to speaker gingrich. here's the delegate map. i'm going to give you two scenarios here. here's roughly where we are tonight. governor romney conferbly ahead. so i'm going to touch the button. what are you doing in june? this race. i'm going august. bang. i've been generous to santorum. i give him both illinois and indiana. some are saying no way. but i'm giving him those states to santorum with gingrich still in the race. look what happens. even under this scenario, romney wins. now, let's say senator santorum he wins pennsylvania. let's say for some reason he could win new jersey. here's the big one here. let's say he could win california. winner take all states. i'm again being generous and

hypothetical. then this is a dream sequence for santorum. even then, yes he stops romney. he would go to the convention behind him. this is with gingrich in. >> hold on one second. what happens in tampa in this scenario? newt gingrich is a very powerful man, clearly. >> gingrich would be a powerful man. ron paul would be a potentially powerful man even with 125 delegates. and there would be other people from jeb bush to chris christie that people would be walking around watching them at their every move just to see what happens here. here's the point. this is unlikely. this is a big money state. there's is big conservative base in california. governor christie is on team romney. let's give this back to romney. romney is close to the finish line. okay. but let's do this other scenario. first i want to come back to today. then i want to bring this. if gingrich gets out -- if gingrich gets out --

>> okay. >> if gingrich gets out with -- now, these went to santorum tonight. make these purple. do that. now we're going to move on. i'm going through these. if gingrich gets out, now santorum gets that. i've decide we're generous to santorum. that's our scenario. let's keep going move quickly. he gets louisiana. let's say santorum he's doing well in the midwest. we're going to give him wisconsin. all right? let's keep coming through. he wins pennsylvania. i'm going to generous. santorum. gingrich is now out of the race. you watch this delegate map. as santorum starts marching and wins all of these, okay? now look what's happening? he's getting closer. he's closing the gap. can we win all these? he would like the two-man race. that's how you catch mitt romney if santorum's not in the race. let's say santorum can get nebraska. again, gingrich is not in the race now.

this is a two-way hypothetical scenario. keep coming. let's keep this here. he's winning in the south and border states. texas goes to santorum. uh-oh in team romney. they're seeing something like that. then you have a real race. this is why there's pressure on gingrich to get out. then you get here. and new jersey, let's leave it in the romney column. we come out here, i think that's probably feasible, right? >> uh-huh. >> that's how that becomes so important. under this scenario, even with gingrich out of the race -- >> still not there. >> utah. look. just shy. just shy. so you want a broker convention with two guys fighting, that's your scenario. if this is going on and you play like this you're getting closer there. >> this is amazing. >> just for fun you do this. that's a very different race. if gingrich gets out, santorum has a chance to get close. to get close.

>> close but not there. >> hard to see in beating romney. but he can get close if gingrich gets out. if gingrich stays in, it's almost impossible. >> this is my favorite part of the night. john king map. we got to change the color rotation. we'll take a break. but we'll be back to talk more on this big night for rick santorum. [ laura ] maine is known for its lighthouses, rocky shore,

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we are back now. a huge night for rick santorum winning both alabama and mississippi. breathing new life into his race for the gop nomination. let's get back to our panel here and talk about what john king was going through the map. i love when he does that. all these fantasies -- numbers person. but what i found fascinating was in a two-man race, neither one of them would get there. rick santorum couldn't get there. even in a three-man race, it's a possibility where mitt romney can't get it done. >> let me make a point about tonight and talk about tampa. there are four contests tonight. we've heard about two of them. but you still have to wait to see who wins the most delegates tonight. you cannot rule out the state of hawaii that mitt romney gets them. >> or samoa. if you are watching, your vote matters. >> go to the vote polls. tampa, it could be a mess. >> but romney is who could win tonight?

>> he could. that's what you pay a lot of attention to. but tampa could be a real miss for republicans. it's hard to see gingrich or santorum to get 50% of delegates. but it might also be hard for romney to get to 50%. if you have a three-way race, it could be a mess in tampa. >> what does that mean in november though? whoever comes out of that is sort of a gimp. they're limping with everything. their legs tied together, their arms tied together. >> well, presumably at some point the party gets together. and i actually believe that it will. but the longer it goes on, the more the hurt feelings come and the less people feel excited. and frankly the less money they're raising. and that's a potential issue. you know, this air of inevidentability that romney had been projecting has been a failure.

he's got to go back, stop talking about process. start talking about people. from my perspective, he's got to get rid of those stupid blue jeans that look so fake it's ridiculous. this guy just has not connected -- >> how do you know that? >> that's a little harsh. >> he wears blue jeans at every single event. >> some men just don't know how to wear jeans. >> some men do, but mitt romney doesn't. >> these are the big issues. >> it's a true statement. >> you know what? i think it says something about him. that he tries too hard. it doesn't feel connected and authentic. on the delegate side is the farther rick santorum could get, either one of them. the one group we haven't talked about tonight, there is a group of super delegates not in this bunch. super delegates actually, you know, with a couple hundred votes -- can make a difference. >> they're not super delegates.

>> they are. >> they're rnc members. we don't have super delegates like you do. and some of them are committed. it's a different process. but there is a pool -- >> but they're not committed. >> that's right. >> that's what i mean. >> there is a dynamic here that we can't quantify at this point. before we have a meltdown in tampa, we will get orderly because that's what republicans do. the republican national committee right now is preparing, hoping for the best, preparing for the worst. they know how to do a whip operation at the convention. nobody else will have the capacity. no other candidates will have the capacity that the rnc will to be able to get in front of what could be ugly. but i just don't think it's going to get that far. hillary makes a great point. the army saying be all you can be, no. be just a little bit less than

you can be. quit trying. just do what you do well which is to be kind of sort of a bad candidate but a good leader. and just stay on message. that's it. >> he doesn't have a message that's authentic. >> it's who he is. he's awkward. it's not as if he's faking. >> he's not faking. deep down inside he's fake. >> i think it's not -- it's not how hard he's trying. it's who he's trying to reach. if this were algebra, he's solving for c, conservatives rather than i for independents. he's so weak on conservatives. but i'm absolutely certain republicans will coalesce around mitt romney z because they strongly dislike obama. but they really don't want the president to win. the price he's paying for the obvious and easy coalesce is in the middle.

>> which undermines his sense of inevidentability. >> we're going to get the white house's view on rick santorum's victory right after this. our special coverage continues. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. ♪ oh, my maltipoo's depressed. but my affordable prius c means i can pay for his acupuncture.

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what does the obama campaign think about tonight's primaries? jessica you had a chance to find out what the president thought of rick santorum tonight. >> the president was away at a basketball game. i'll tell you. the obama campaign in general as you might guess is pleased the longer this goes on. because it -- they ultimately expect that mitt romney will be the nominee despite what we're all watching tonight. the longer this takes, the more money it drains from romney. the more attention it takes from his eventually fight with his president. i'll tell you. jim mesina even sent out an e-mail tonight to obama supporters saying if the general election were today, president obama would lose to mitt romney. that was based on a "washington post" poll. he's trying to fund raise off that. they're not even looking at rick

santorum now with great attention. i see you're playing the video, so i think i should talk about that. president barack obama took prime minister cameron of the uk to his very first basketball game. and they went -- not coincidently to a swing state of ohio. and the president talked about why they went there. listen. >> first of all, i thought it was going to be wonderful for the prime minister to have a chance not only to see a basketball game for the first time but also to come to the great state of ohio. because sometimes when we have foreign visitors, they're only visiting the coast. they go to new york, washington, los angeles. but the heartland is what it's all about. >> and vice president biden will be in ohio as well later this week. on thursday he is going to toledo to unleash what all sources are saying will be a fierce real election-themed speech. and we're expecting him to

really take it to the republican candidates then. >> thanks, jessica. there was something about that image. as the republican party all hell breaks loose, the president is stuffing a hot dog in his mouth. well, you know, so this is good for him, roo igt? >> well, he's at a basketball game in ohio. you need ohio almost certainly to win the presidency in november. so he's going there, i'm sure he's scoring points -- forgive the pun -- in dayton. and have been a good time. >> his brackets were heavy in swing states. >> he's doubling down in the dayton area. democrats have to win it by a decent margin to win the state. as we end tonight, if you go to the maps, go to the history, logic, mitt romney s still the front runner. i think rick santorum has a chance to reset the race. let's see what happens in the next week or ten days. the underdog given the tea party, given to the obama

election. forget the rules. >> any chance we get a change in strategy from romney? >> i don't know. he's been steady. they have believed in their strategy from the get go and that was like five years ago. so they really haven't changed much. i don't know. i mean, they are convinced that they're going to get this. and so -- and they believe the kind of stand offish from the media most of the time. at least very controlled media events. they believe he's been doing just fine. so i just think, you know, it's a recipe for june. >> oh, thank you for cheering us up. you can argue math all you want, which the romney campaign is arguing. but presidential campaigns are not just about math. they're about passion. they're about what you believe. they're about who you believe in. and mitt romney has yet to find a way to make that base believe in him. >> still have some fun to go.

next sunday puerto rico, next tuesday illinois. >> puerto rico. i love it from the territories. >> of course rick santorum spending two days there. maybe he'll get a nice dinner or something. thanks to all of you. our special coverage continues right after this with wolf blitzer. and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering. [ roger ] tell me you have good insurance. yup, i've got... [ dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. [ kyle ] nope, i've got... [ dennis ] ...the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance -- and you still get an allstate agent. i too have... [ dennis ] ...allstate.

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i'm wolf blitzer. i'm in for piers morgan. boy, is this republican race getting interesting. it's a huge night for rick santorum with wins in alabama and mississippi. listen to the moment when the candidate rick santorum learned he had won not just one but two southern states. >> if you folks do your part and you help us like the folks in alabama and hopefully the folks in mississippi did -- we did? well, i guess. >> how happy is he?

how happy is his family? back with us now our expert cnn team. gloria borger and john king and fleischer. just when so many of the so-called experts were saying romney had it all but done. not so fast. >> the narrative was can romney lock it up with one win in the south or another revival for newt gingrich? gingrich loses in two southern states. he says he's staying in until tampa. now can santorum find a path to challenge romney? it would be easier if gingrich gets out. my question now is the math, the rules, the history. everything tells you it's still romney over the long haul into may and june. but you know what? our politics have been outside the rules. we elected our first african-american president. the tea party movement came out of nowhere. so let's watch. senator santorum is going to puerto rico. romney's favored there. let's see what happens there.

then primary in illinois. back to the midwest where if you look, it should be a romney state. >> puerto rico is this coming sunday. >> huge. >> and illinois a week from now on tuesday. it's going to go on and on. in fairness to mitt romney, he's still way ahead in the delegate count. he's got more than all of the other candidates combined now. >> and this isn't the way they wanted it to be right now. if they do go across the finish line, they're going to crawl across the finish line. let me read something our peter hamby -- >> our political reporter. >> political reporter peter hamby, from a senior adviser to newt gingrich that floated this. get this. newt gingrich and rick santorum would be a powerful team against barack obama. now, do i believe for a minute that's going to happen? no. but interesting. >> if senator santorum wins, he's going to pick the guy who has said for three months he's not ready for primetime and was

nobody in congress. uh-huh. >> right. but this comes from a gingrich person because they're looking for alliances. they need some friends. >> what i like to do to scare my friends is refer to president gingrich and vice president palin. it really scares them. >> santorum is the only one of these republican candidates that has won in virtually every major part of the country. >> but he won states that didn't have delegates. no delegates a few weeks ago. it gave him the boost and the good press to come out and do as well as he's done now. but rick santorum, one thing republicans have got to look towards santorum and say can you solve this problem. his problem with women. he is going to have to address that. because that gender gap is big. and it's a problem. >> didn't he do well with married women in alabama? >> he did well with women women. married women and single. single, married, you name it in

both mississippi and alabama tonight. that's a republican electorate. i'm talking about a general election. >> he does better with the women voters. more women usually vote in these national elections than men. >> i think rick santorum has a problem because of the issue of contraception even though he's kind of back tracked a bit on that. i think mitt romney would have an easier time turning around a gender gap which is now a gender gulch. he does well with married women and with suburban republican women. so i think mitt romney would have a much easier time of that. >> it would help governor romney if there was public polling that showed competitive against obama and tanking against obama. the problem is polls don't show that right now. president obama has come down a bit in all the polls. forget the republican candidates because of higher energy prices. he's come down. romney has to be back to the

electability. >> on the electability issue, the republicans by and large believe that romney is much more electable in a general election. they also think that santorum was much more conservative. and a lot of times they go with their heart instead of their electability brain. >> it's one of the reasons this race keeps going on. republicans are shopping. they're changing their minds. they're open to different ideas and over the months it's just going to evolve. but -- >> at some point you have to stop shopping. i never thought i would say that. but at some point. >> it does feel like republicans are not putting our best foot forward. the advantage we have is neither is e the other party. the other party also has a weak foot going forward. it may shape the 2012 campaign. >> they've focused almost exclusively only on mitt romney. they've assumed from day one it was his. they're working on the assumption it will still be his. is that a smart strategy on the obama campaign? should they look at the possibility it might not be

romney. >> they have a day or two they focused on gingrich when he surged. a little on santorum. they still believe and there's every reason for them to believe it will ultimately be governor romney. unlike their protracted democratic primary four years ago which helped the democrats at least there wasn't any blood or deep wounds to heal, these are causing deep fissures in the republican party. we don't know if that's true. you can look at polling and find evidence. it's a long road. we know they're going to vote republican. no matter who the republican nominee is, these states. >> realistically now, gloria, we can assume what happened four years ago on the democratic side with hillary clinton and barack obama going all the way through mid-june, they were waiting for primary and caucuses in june. almost at the very end, barack obama won. hillary clinton conceded. is that likely to happen this time? >> it could. i think for a couple more

months, it seems to me that this is going to continue. it's the deja vu here. now i'm starting to think about if you release your delegates, it doesn't mean your delegates have to go for the person you necessarily endorse. looking at rules. so suddenly i'm getting back in that cycle that i never thought i'd revisit. >> very important people. >> the delegate counters are important people. nobody knows their name, but they're important. i'm reminded, when i was the junior white house correspondent and wolf was the senior white house correspondent. he would sing i get knocked down but i get up again. every time romney has been knocked down, he has rallied. >> he sings too. >> he faces a huge challenge. he faces a huge challenge. but they have the best money, they have the best organization. the question is do they have the best candidate? we're about to find that out. >> do they? >> well, the calendar is going to benefit romney is bit.

you're shifting to northeastern states. you don't have a multi-state night again until april. two-state primaries and several one-state primaries coming up. that's why it keeps going. >> the three biggest states are yet to speak out on this front. texas, california, and new york. who's better positioned in those three -- where most of the delegates are. those are the big prizes right there. new york, california, texas. who wins? >> well, new york, i believe is in april. texas is in may. california's in june. i'll answer that question on the dynamic between now and the states. every creates a dynamic for the next. >> you have the yankee primaries on the 24th. one might think rick santorum will be positioned well and mitt romney would be positioned well. and not so much newt gingrich. >> given the proportional rules in the states closest to come,

then you have winner take all. if gingrich stays in, it's very hard. you can see in closing -- santorum closing the gap, it's hard. speaker gingrich is a proud man. he sees santorum and romney and says let's see what happens. i expect a lot of leading conservatives will say you've had your chance in the south. the only way we stop romney is if you get out. >> see if the money dries up for newt gingrich right now. that'll be a huge factor. not necessarily the super pac money but his day-to-day money which he needs to keep his campaign going. thanks very much. when we come back, one of rick santorum's top men on why he says his candidate has earned a one-on-one race with mitt romney and newt gingrich's daughters on why their dad is staying in the race. [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar, on december 21st, polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space,

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of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. senator santorum is at the desperate end of his campaign and is trying in some way to boost his prospects. frankly, misrepresenting the truth is not a good way of doing that. >> some harsh words from mitt romney. my interview with him earlier. words which proved to be less than prophetic. hereby now with the response from the santorum campaign, the senior campaign adviser john brebender. thanks for coming in. what's your response to governor romney, only a few hours ago he said that rick santorum in his words was at the desperate end of his campaign. >> evidently the voters in mississippi and in alabama somehow didn't get that memo from the governor and decided to speak their own mind.

and these are pretty remarkable wins. i don't think anybody predicted it. especially with the amount of money that governor romney spent which was probably tenfold what we spent. this is a pretty remarkable american story. somebody going out there, rick santorum just speaking from their heart and people listening and it's resonating and they're vote for for him. >> what was your realistic expectation a few hours ago before the polls closed in mississippi and alabama? >> well, we actually felt really good about alabama. we were seeing a lot of energy there. a lot of web traffic. those type of things. we had heard that governor romney had the entire establishment behind him in mississippi and that they could deliver a win for him. and frankly, this is also newt gingrich's back yard for all practical purposes. he was expected to do extremely well. we were surprised winning both states. gratified. just as surprised as we were on saturday when not only did we win kansas, we got more votes than all the other candidates combined.

>> your candidate has resisted the urge to ask speaker gingrich to step aside. he didn't win in either of these two states. is it time, do you believe, for gingrich to move on? >> i would answer that a bit differently. i think it's time that conservative and tea party supporters understand they've got to rally behind one candidate. and that's how you stop a moderate like mitt romney from ever getting the nomination. if we can get all those votes behind one candidate, we'll win in all these big states coming up that are going to be very, very important. >> so does that mean you would obviously like newt gingrich to step aside so that it would be effectively a one-on-one race between rick santorum and mitt romney. >> well, yeah, no. i think we've earned a one on one with mitt romney. we saw that tonight with the wins. we saw that in kansas. last week big wins in tennessee and north dakota where nobody expected us to. i think actually the american people deserve that too.

where it's a consistent, clear decision of whether you want to vote for a moderate, mitt romney, or a conservative rick santorum. and that's what the party should really have right now. >> let's look ahead quickly to puerto rico which is sunday and illinois which is a week from today, next tuesday. what's your assessment? >> you know, again, i think they're a little bit hard. illinois is someplace i think will be close. there was a poll out by the "chicago tribune" that shows governor romney about four points ahead. it's a state where he's already spending a million dollars on tv and we'll have a little bit of catch-up. but then we get to go to a lot of states that we feel very good about. wisconsin, louisiana. we haven't even gone to pennsylvania, rick santorum's home state which today there was a poll released that showed him e winning by 18 points. there's a lot of big states ahead. many of them we think favorable to rick santorum. >> having said all that, as far as delegates, by our cnn estimate you're way behind.

mitt romney as of right now has twice as many delegates on the road to 1,444, than you do. >> well, the problem that mitt romney has and everybody has is right now it doesn't look like anybody's going to easily get to the amount that you need before getting to a convention. that works very much in our favor, we believe, because there's uncommitted delegates who we believe are conservatives that will ultimately come with rick santorum. plus you have some big states like texas that are winner take all states that can shift what that count is yet. we think time is on our side. we think that ultimately rick santorum can get to the magic number before the convention. we also think we have a big advantage going into the convention with all the santorum momentum we have going on. >> so you basically think that mitt romney was wrong when he told me today that santorum is at the desperate end of his campaign. you obviously disagree. >> well, yeah, no.

if you look at their math figures, they're counting a lot of votes they don't have right now. second of all, there's only been roughly a third of the delegates even voted on. so i think, frankly, there's probably a lot of states that are starting to get very offended by governor romney saying that those states shouldn't even have a chance to vote. and i'm hoping people in illinois, louisiana, and wisconsin are some of those states who say this is arrogant and we're not going to have the establishment and mitt romney tell us how to vote. >> john brabender, thanks for coming in. >> thank you very much. i really appreciated being here. newt gingrich says he's going all the way and will compete for the nomination no matter what despite his disappointing finish in alabama and mississippi. he also took a shot at mitt romney. listen to this. >> one of the things tonight proved is that the elite media's effort to convince the nation that mitt romney is inevitable

just collapsed. if you're the front runner and you keep coming in third, you're not much of a front runner. >> knocking romney on what turned out to be a bad night for newt gingrich himself. joining us now, two of newt gingrich's staunch and supporters. they happen to be his daughters. jackie gingrich cushman and kathy gingrich lubbers. thanks very much for coming in. how disappointed is your dad that he didn't win both of these southern states? >> well, you know, he's not disappointed at all. he's very happy to be here in alabama and mississippi. it was a photo finish. it was not a very big gap at all. so i think of course he would have liked to have won. the reality is he's going to walk away from tonight with more delegates that he had before tonight. that's very good. that's a positive thing. i think he's got a great point. for months we have been hearing that mitt romney is the inevitable candidate. clearly he is not inevitable because it hasn't happened yet.

so we're really focusing on the race for the long haul. the 1144 delegates needed to secure the nomination. and the reality is nobody is there yet. and we're going all the way to tampa. >> so kathy, the notion of him dropping out even though he didn't win both of these states, didn't one win one of these states, that notion we should forget about because he came close, but not close enough. >> well, we can't listen to what the elite media says about our father dropping out. he's good for his word. and as you've heard him say, this is going to be a dialogue with the american people. and he's the one that can actually beat barack obama. the president is actually already responding to his messaging about $2.50 a gallon gasoline. there were five different instances this week where the president or white house was responding, commenting, making press comments. there's a reason for that. our father has already taken the dialogue to president barack obama.

he's going to be the best to debate him and lead the conservative republicans through this race. so we're in this for the long haul with our father. we think he's going to take it to tampa and beyond. >> kathy, you have to admit that rick santorum really has a lot of that political momentum right now, much more than your dad. >> well, if you look at senator santorum, obviously he did very well tonight in alabama and mississippi. dad congratulated him on his good night. i'd like to do the same thing, congratulate him on his good night. part of what's going to happen during this process, people are going to get to know santorum and his record better and better as it goes on. in the end, what they're going to find it is under my dad's leadership as speaker, the deficit went down $20 trillion. when senator santorum was in leadership in the senate, they increased the deficit by $1.7 trillion. that's a huge difference.

20% decline from my dad. increase with santorum. even governor romney said this week that the senator wasn't as fiscally conservative as he was. i'm not going to compare the two, but i think as time goes on, the voters will go out and look at their records and realize that my father who balanced the budget for four years, who reformed welfare as speaker, who cut taxes and spending, he stood up and governed with president clinton, that's he's the only to step up and get it done. >> let me interrupt for a second. we're almost out of time. this notion that he's only won two states out of almost 20 contests so far, what does that say? >> well, the reality is even as we get through this process, louisiana is where the halfway point of this football game if you want to use an analogy that the deep south does resonate with. there are a lot of delegates yet to be determined.

the inevitable candidate definitely is no longer inevitable. and i think our father is going to continue the pace and the duration is going to be well for him over the duration of this race. he's going to continue to do better and better and the people will get to know his political perspectives, his solutions for america, and if you need more information go to newt.org. there is plenty of information there for all of your viewers. >> thanks so much for joining us. i'm sure we'll continue this conversation now we know your dad is staying in the race. appreciate it very much. and coming up, a look at the next primary contest. we're talking about sunday's vote. that's coming up in puerto rico. ♪ [ male announcer ] the 2012 m-class continually monitors blind spots, scans the road to reveal potential threats, even helps awaken its driver if he begins to doze. so in the blink of an eye it will have performed more active safety measures

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you stood with a guy that comes from the grandson of a coal miner of western pennsylvania. but you knew, shared your values and was going to go out and work for you to make sure that this country was free and safe and prosperous based on believing in free people and free markets and free economy. and of course the integrity of the family and the faith in our lives. >> the next stop on the republican primary trail is puerto rico on sunday. that state's governor is luis fortuno. he has endorsed mitt romney. thanks for joining us. looks like it's shaping up to be a good night for rick santorum not necessarily your guy mitt romney. what's your reaction so far? >> let me tell you.

i am convinced that governor romney will continue to deliver his message across the country. not just in puerto rico but the following states. i'm convinced that down here we're going to do our job correctly. i will help him carry the state. >> do you think he's going to win puerto rico decisively? >> let me tell you. it's impossible to tell at this moment. i will do everything i can. there's already excitement among the voters that not just governor romney but the other candidates are coming down. and i expect a nice turnout. certainly i will do my best so he can deliver this message in the same fashion he has done so in the rest of the country. >> i know there's some economic hardship in puerto rico right now. what are the biggest issues that republican voters are concerned about right now? >> well, number one, we're looking for a president who will commit to a stronger national security for the caribbean border as we call it ourselves.

governor romney has committed to do exactly that. it is a national security issue that affects not just residents in puerto rico but everyone in the eastern seaboard as well. secondly leads to job creation. and as you mentioned we have had a long recession. we're coming out of that. we're turning a corner because of the policies we've implemented. similar policies to the policies governor romney has in his campaign. making sure we lower taxes and that actually we make sure that businesses can create jobs in better business environment. and he has committed to do that across the country including puerto rico. >> how worried are you that all republican candidates for that matter including the man you support, governor romney, have opposed what's called comprehensive immigration reform. allowing children of illegal immigrants to get benefits from the dream act so they go